 List Price: $20.98
Lowest Price: $11.95 
Product Description: Fix-A-Windshield Do-It-Yourself Windshield Repair Kit repairs chips and cracks quickly and easily! - Minimizes the appearance, and stops the spread of chips and cracks in your windshield. - Easy to use - takes only minutes! - Product removes air from the break, fills it with a durable resin, and makes it even stronger than before. - The repair is almost invisible - Kit includes:1 gram bottle of repair resin, repair device, curing strips, sleeve razor blade, and instruction sheet - Kit is good for multiple repairs By the makers of Fix-A-Flat Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-06-27
Results may vary.
The one thing that this product doesn't stress enough is that your results may very depending on the type of damage you have. This product is not very good on star cracks or regular cracks (it may work better on bullseyes). I have a star crack about 1.25" in diameter with the longest crack extending about 3/4 inch from the point of impact. I've read and fallowed the instructions 3 times and after few tries the product did fill in the small spider web like cracks that extend no longer then 1/4" from the point of impact but the longer cracks are still there and still visible. The damage does look a little bit better then before the repair but it's definitely nothing like the Before and After picture the manufacturer provides. Honestly I don't really care how it looks as long as it passes the state inspection but I'll find that out in few months.
Overall I can only give this product 2 stars, and if you are going to buy this don't expect miracles. Rating:
Date: 2008-05-07
Fix-A-Windsheild
I had a small chip to repair product did not work that good, can still see chip as before repair. Rating: 
Date: 2008-04-16
Should work, in theory
[Sorry, have to edit this review. Just DISREGARD everything I said in the original review about the competing product from Permatex. They have CHANGED the product so much that it is now, in my opinion, almost useless for a good repair. Given the change in the competing product, I would choose this one (Fix-a-Windshield) any day. I'll leave a quick review of the Permatex product changes on that page.]
First, let me say that I'm an engineer and also a big DIY-er. Ok, got that out of the way.
In theory, this should product should work. In practice, it will probably take a lot of practice to get good results. This review comes after only using the product once, on a 3/4" star I just got two days ago from a kicked up rock. The end result, after about 45 minutes of fiddling with this product, was the star was only one-half filled. I simply could not get the fluid to fill the rest of the star, despite following all the instructions exactly and also taking into consideration the suggestions I read from reviewers here ahead of time.
I've had _much_ better results with the Permatex product. Yes, I know that product has not gotten good ratings, but I can offer a theory why it might work better than this product.
This product relies on _compression_ (high pressure) to fill the cracks. The Permatex product relies on a _vacuum_ (low pressure). This product has a very small orifice through which to exert its compressive force. Normally, that would be a good thing, but only if the only entry point in the glass is within that small area. The instructions say to make sure the mouth of the tube opens wide. Well, what's "wide"? Two times the original? Three times? Even at three times its original diameter, this product can only cover perhaps 1/2 of the surface area that the Permatex product can. The Permatex product I'm referring to has a single suction cup with a hole in the center, to which a syringe attaches. The syringe is filled with the resin. Then, you pull back on the syringe, and watch bubbles pull out of the crack. You abruptly release the syringe and the fluid is forced into the vacuum created by the first action (pulling back the syringe). Still with me? The area which the suction cup covers is _at least_ twice that of this Fix-a-Windshield product. So....if you need to fill a crack, you have twice the area on the glass to find a hole through which to inject the resin.
I think the reason that only 1/2 of my star would fill is because that air could not be drawn from the very center of the star to those points. The pathways were somehow blocked. If the "mouth" of the tube were larger, I would have had more possible entry points for the resin to penetrate.
Regarding the product quality: the suction cups are _great_. The plastic and rubber materials seem to be pretty good. I think they should have included a bit more resin. However, there is considerable play in the plastic threads holding the injection tube to the central frame connected to the suction cups. That allows the tube to move on the glass. That might be a good thing, but I saw it as a bad, since (I think) it reduces the quality of the seal.
I'll give this product three stars, but you should consider it 2 1/2. I plan to go buy the Permatex product now to see if there's any way I can fill the rest of the star, now that the resin has hardened from today's attempted repair. Rating: 
Date: 2008-03-17
Take your time and this is a great product
I had a rock hit my windshield, resulting in a star burst damage area, about 3/4" in diameter. I bought the kit and carefully studied, and followed the instructions. The key is to do the fill with resin and re-apply pressure steps multiple times. I also found gently heating the area under the repair kit with a hairdryer helped the resin flow to all areas of the cracks. I think I used about 18 drops of resin total for a complete repair. I am very happy with the results. Rating:
Date: 2008-01-08
This thing really works, and works great!
The xB is a perfect car except its box windshield that loves rocks. I don't want to buy comprehensive insurance to cover the windshield and I don't want to pay $50 for each and every hit. This "fix a windshield" comes to rescue.
I compared this kit with those professional kits that cost $$$$. The only difference I can see is plastic vs. metal. So, this kit is indeed professional, no kidding. As most of us here don't repair rock chips for a living, only once or twice a year, the plastic is all fine.
As others have pointed out, the key to success is the contact between the resin chamber and the windshield. How to manage it correctly? "Screw down the resin chamber so the rubber mouth is flat against the windshield, in complete, but gentle, contact with the glass"..."If the resin leaks out of the bottom of the resin chamber, gently turn the resin chamber clockwise". So the perfect tweak is: set it loose enough to leak a little bit and then tighten it a little bit.
In order to help the resin flow into the breaks, I use a small hot water bag to warm up the other side. A camera triangle is ideal to support the bag. I use a food thermo to check its temperature (don't be too hot).
How to ensure a good fill before we cure the resin? "Unrepaired areas will appear as dark (green or black) areas." This is another key part. After a good fill, the green or dark breaks are all gone, they now look thinner than hair.
The last key step is to use a good blacklight to cure the resin. Don't waste time to look for an UV tube. They are hard to find, expensive and difficult to use. Even if you find one, it might not be the right band. The easy-to-find blacklights emit exactly the UV-A rays (around 360nm) that this resin is designed for. A new energy-save compact fluorescent blacklight bulb is only $6 or so, can be found in many local stores and can be easily used in standard incandescent fixtures. For long crack repair, I might get a under-cabinate blacklight (12" or 18" tube) for about $20. Sunlight is as hard to see as gold in my area, especially in winter.
The repaired area is still recognizable, but not so easy to. It looks much better than I expected, even better than those on my wife's car, which were done by professional glass shops. I must admit that I'm a top-class DIYer, but still you've got the point. I got the rock chip on the way to pick up my son from his music class. As soon as he got into the car, he pointed his finger to that spot and shouted "look here!". My wife never saw it; I asked her to find it after I repaired it and it took her quite a while. She may never notice it if I had not told her about it. Yes, this kit is that good.
To make it as invisible as possible, I followed the instruction to add one more drop of resin right on the chip and scrape the resin "from" (?) the chip. After curing, this final touch removed all the rough white stuff, smoothed out the spot and blended it into the same color as the surrounding area. Now nobody can notice it unless I show him/her where to look at.
Please keep in mind, the key point about rock chips is: they expand and eventually crack the whole windshield if not repaired. This is the main reason for us to fix it ASAP. It is not all about a perfect mended look. When I look at my work, I'm very sure it won't go worse because all the breaks have been sealed very well. All I can see now is some white, no more those green or black I saw that meant moisture and air that would cause future crack under uneven heat. Problem solved, peace of mind.
Although the Permatex kit has not got good reviews here, there is a training video on its web site, well worth of watching. You can get a very good understanding about what you'll be doing with these kits. I sincerely wish "fix a windshield" publish such a video as well.
I have uploaded some photos about the before and after, and more:
picasaweb dot google dot com/fixup77/Faw
This $10 kit can be used for many more times, I wish this company will sell us the resin separately. Such repair is a good way for me to help my friends and neighbors.
From now on, I'm no longer afraid of those big rigs passing by. Peace of driving. Oh yeah, nothing beats the xB, especially now I can easily wipe out the kisses on its face.
Update[02/23/2008]: Today I hit lottery again, actually 2 hits one stone within 3 mm. I used the same kit left from the last time. I injected twice to the two spots, respectively, and then cured both at the same time with one film. After that, I applied two drops again (one on each) to mind the dents for the final touch.
This time I did a better job (more invisible), consumed much less resin (3 drops + 1 small + 1 small for each spot, 10 drops total) and spent less time. Man, I don't know why this xB loves rocks so much. I cannot imagine how could I drive this thing if without this great repair kit. |
